This weblog was created to act as a platform for the voice of secular pro-democracy activists in and outside Iran who are struggling against the religious dictatorship of the Islamic clerics in Iran.
My favourite quote:
"Evil only prevails when the good stay silent"

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Ever since the 1979 frenzy, I have insisted that our country, Iran, has been under foreign occupation.

The new rulers of Iran changed our Iranian symbol of Sun and Lion in the national flag and replaced it with some new symbol of their own which resembles that of the Sikhs but has no roots in our traditions and history. On top of that they introduced foreign writings on our national flag. In short there is nothing Iranian in the present day Islamic Republic flag of Iran.

When they asked Khomeini on his flight back from 15 years of exile, "what are your feelings now that you have entered Iran again?", he simply replied "Nothing!". He was telling the truth, Iran was not important or relevant to Khomeini.After seizing power, Khomeini tried to ban our beloved long held tradition of celebrating the first day of Spring as the Iranian new year, as well as our other traditions and celebrations like the fireworks on the Last Tuesday evening of the year, all national traditions which represent our national identity have been frowned upon..

The mullahs almost immediately attempted to change our Persian language which we tried so hard to keep alive throughout the centuries. Arabic words were forced into our vocabulary which we had no prior knowledge of. Words like "Taghoot", "mofsed-fel-arz", "mohareb", "monafegh" etc. Almost all references to the word National were replaced by Islamic, thus the National Consultative Assembly became the Islamic Consultative Assembly and so on.

In the state sponsered films made in Iran, all the bad guys have Iranian names like Kourosh, Manoochehr, Kambiz. All the good guys on the other hand, all have Arab names like Mehdi, Mohsen, Ahmad...

The clerics have desperately tried to ridicule and discredit our national heroes. The illiterate Sheikh Khalkhali, the mad mullah and the butcher of Kurdistan whose hobby as a kid was strangling cats, by misreading a Persian history book claimed that Cyrus was a transvestite! -He misread rAhzani as rAhe zani :))

The loathing of our pre-Islamic Iranian heritage is far too obvious by the mullahs. No other rulers but foreign occupiers would attempt the changes listed above. Only a foreign usurper would attempt to change the national flag, national symbols, national celebrations and national language of a country and profess to have no feelings for it.

The mullahs have shown no enthusiasm in preserving our national pre-Islamic heritage sites. Only the people of Iran through their deep rooted nationalistic instincts have managed to keep our sites of heritage from decay, ruin and destruction.The mullahs instead have done their best to maintain and flourish landmarks and mausoleums of the Arab invaders which are left in Iran.

Perhaps the biggest eyesores for the Mullahs are Persepolis and the Tomb of Cyrus in Pasargadae. Their attempt after the revolution to bulldoze these ancient sites failed but now they are having another stab at it by building the Sivand dam at Tangeh-bolaghi.

More than 100 of Iran's potentially most important but least examined archaeological sites, including Pasargadae, the city built by King Cyrus the Great, will be flooded. Archaeologists believe that even the mausoleum of Cyrus the Great will be at risk.

Pasargadae was built on the site where Cyrus defeated Astyages, the leader of the Medes, in 550BC. One reason why the mullahs scorn Pasargadae and Cyrus so much is because it was the capital of the first Asian empire which respected the cultural and religious diversity of its people.

The dam is due to be opened in March 2006. We, the children of Cyrus, have less than one year to save our forefather's resting place.

These were the last words of our forefather, and the founder of our nation:"I am Cyrus, son of Cambyses, whofounded the Empire of Iran, and was King of Asia.Grudge me not therefore this humble tomb."

Saturday, August 27, 2005

I am hearing so many conflicting reports about the mastermind of London bombings, Haroon Aswad, that its hard to make any convincing conclusions. Examining the telephone records of the London bombers reveals that they had all made telephone contact with the 30 year old Aswad and the sequence of events below is the best I can gather of Aswad's movements.

Born in Yorkshire in England but from Gujrati Indian origin, Aswad obtained a diploma in electronics and then headed to London for Islamic studies where he met other extremists such as Sheikh Hamza of the Finsbury Park mosque. In 1999, Aswad went to America. The Justice Department wanted to indict him in Seattle because he was trying to set up a terrorist training school in Oregon, but apparently the headquarters of the US Justice Department ordered the Seattle prosecutors not to touch Aswad. Later he was believed by the US authorities to be dead but the South African intelligence came across him, where he was fundraising for the "cause". However he was not arrested, Aswad instead flew or was flown to London.Haroon Rashid Aswad allegedly left London for Pakistan on July 6, one day before the 7/7 London bombings.Aswad was then arrested in Pakistan and jailed, but released again within 24 hours.Instead of being sent to London for questioning, Aswad flew to South Africa. From there on it is unclear whether he went to Zimbabwe or Botswana before being arrested in Zambia on immigration charges and deported back to England. Aswad arrived at a Royal Air Force base in Northolt, west of London and later said to be detained in Paddington Green police station.

What is for definite is that the same enthusiasm shown in putting seven bullets into the head of an innocent Brazilian travelling on the London underground was not initially shown in detaining Haroon Aswad flying around the world.

Now there are many conclusions that can be drawn from all this.

1) Haroon Aswad is/was a British intelligence plant within the Islamic extremist networks. This is perhaps the best conclusion, after all this is the type of operation that intelligence agencies should do, infiltrate the terror organizations and gather intelligence. However that then poses the question as to why the London bombings were not prevented. Was Aswad a double agent? Did Aswad fool the British intelligence into thinking he was working for them and actually gave them wrong intelligence?

2) Terrorism expert, John Lofus however thinks that Aswad and the growing number of Islamic extremists we have seen spawning across England were actually part of a deal with the extremist organizations. "It was one of those you leave us alone, we leave you alone kind of things." claims Loftus i.e. appeasement with the terrorists.

So how did the truce collapse in 7/7 bombings? Loftus goes on to explain "the Israelis say that the truce went on for years. Guys from Al-Muhajiroun for example would bring suicide bombers to Israel to blow up Mike's Place. There was a definite link there. And yet the trainer, Sadiki Al Kahn, was able to go back to Britain and not be touched. What the Israelis believe happened is that Usama Bin Laden got desperate, and he said burn all our bridges--let's turn on the British. Break the truce, start the bombs."Well who knows, may be we will never know. If the second conclusion is true however and we are to believe John Loftus, then that is the worst scenario.

Appeasement with Islamic terrorists is no less of a mistake than Chamberlain's appeasement with Hitler. Islamic fundamentalism is a global threat, just like Hitler was. As I once said in a BBC interview, to combat the global threat of Islamic fundamentalism, we need a united global front.

Friday, August 26, 2005

Ayatollah Jannati, the secretary of the all powerful unelected Guardian Council in the Islamic Republic, held the Tehran Friday prayers sermon today.

He started off by criticizing England's behaviour towards its inhabitants. Saying "There is more security in a war battlefield than there is for a human being in England. In England a person can be arrested for no reason and held for indefinite period of time." - The pot calling the kettle black comes to mind :)On the nuclear issue, he said "whatever obstacles they try to put in our way they will fail. We are now in a good position to get what we want. All we need is a man of action."

He also expressed his satisfaction at the impending establishment of an Islamic Republic in Iraq, saying "This shows the freedom loving people of the world are aware of the high standards in the Islamic Republic and seek our system as a paradigm"- Thanks to BBC perhaps :)

He ended his sermon by expressing his jubilation at the imminent coming of the 12th Imam.

Thursday, August 25, 2005

Eric Jerpe worked as a statistician for the IMF most of his life. Now retired, he is making good time of his retirement by travelling around the world and writing books. Very enviable!Eric has travelled extensively around Iran and is very well knowledged about our country.

I met him this week in London while he stopped to visit England on his second or third trip round the world.Eric Jerpe has read the Gathas of Zartosht and when he talks about the Gathas, enthusiasm in his face is too apparent. He tells me"Potkin, I have never read any sacred text so inspirational in my life. The Gathas are the true message of Zartosht, not the corrupted theocracy of the last years of the Sassanid dynasty."

I nodded at him in agreement and let him continue with his fascinating tales of his last trip to Iran."Iran is a land of missed opportunities. History has not been good to Iran. There is so much potential in Iran" He continues as we dine in a Persian restaurant in London.Then he reads out some verses from Omar Khayyam and says he can not wait until he sees the new movie, The Keeper.

Eric Jerpe's book, the Return of Scheherazade, is a novelette, set in present day Iran. As the momentum builds towards catastrophe in Iran, a glimmer of hope is found in the ancient legend of a Persian princess crossing over from the spiritual realm to the material world in the hour of direst need.Through the power of Spenta Mainyu, the Holy Spirit, Scheherazade strives to save her people from impending doom.

Don't worry however if you think the book sounds too mystical, the conclusion soon becomes more realistic, i.e. "Iranians will save Iran". Scheherazade is merely a symbol to inspire the Iranians.

As you open the book, you read it dedicated to:"The memory of Atefeh Rajabi, a sixteen year old Iranian girl executed for the crime of Acts Incompatible with Chastity.!"

It is inspiring to meet a foreigner so fond of our old country and so well informed, although it can also be embarassing when you see a non-Iranian national more intrested and concerned in the destiny of Iran than some Iranian ex-pats.

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

More and more public figures in the Islamic Republic are hinting at their unease about the clandestine Messianic Hojjatieh group, taking over all the positions of power in the Islamic Republic. See: The Takeover of the Hojjatieh Messianic sect

After Khatami's first post-election public speech in Mashad, Feyzollah Arabsorkhi, deputy commerce minister in Khatami's cabinet, also made a timidly implicit reference to the messianic sect now in control of Iran and soon may be the nuclear weapons.Arabsorkhi, lost two of his brothers in the Iran-Iraq war, he is to all intents and purposes a child of the revolution who has paid the price in personal sacrifices. In an interview with the official student news agency, ISNA, he said "There were those sects who opposed the establishment of an Islamic Republic at the time of revolution, however by changing their masks they crept into the key positions of power. They now have all the levers of power and propaganda in their hands."

The global dangers of this new messianic sect- the Hojjatieh sect- who are now in control of Iran and eventually the nuclear power - are alarming for all those who understand the realities of Iranian politics. Yet it was precisely the eight years of Khatami's government that allowed this sect to regroup and to reorganize their network of power and influence. Even now in the same characteristics, Khatami and members of his previous cabinet, lack the guts to face the Hojjatieh sect head on, other than implicitly referring to them in interviews.

Monday, August 22, 2005

We were in the fourth or fifth grade in the primary school in Iran at the time. It was the Persian literature class. Not a subject that I particularly looked forward to as a child, however that day when the teacher started reading out the poem on the Iranian mythical hero, Arash, by Siavash Kasraii, suddenly I was mesmerized. Contrary to my usual quest for mischief and laughter, this time I was all-ears. A painting of a heroic type figure stretching his bow and arrow to the full, accompanied the text of the poem.

Iran had been at war with our mythical enemy, the Turanians. The war had gone on for years and although Turan had the upper hand we were not completely defeated yet. The poem started by describing how beautiful life during peace is; the daily toil, the dining together, the celebrations, the growing up of children.

“Life is like the eternal flames of an ancient fire templeIf we light it up, the dancing of the flames will be seen in distances afarIf we don’t, then the flames will go outAnd that will be our sin…”Then the poem described the sadness of those days we were at war with Turan.

“The dark nights were cold and seemed endlessThe stars no longer shined in the skyFear was everywhere and the wings of death above everyonePeople were motionless without hopeSilence reigned behind our barricadesYet the encampments of the enemies were buzzing with hilarityNo one smiled at each otherTears instead of rain poured from the sky “

Then the Turanians decided to finish us off in a final act of humiliation. They decided that we should choose one archer from our midst. He should climb up the Alborz mountain and throw his arrow. Wherever the arrow landed would be the border between the two countries. The Turanians were certain that even the best Iranian archer would not reach very far. Their intention was to humiliate our people.

Iranians were in a state of despair; they imagined the outcome to be a small land contained within tight borders. The people had resigned to a terrible destiny ahead.

Suddenly amongst an uproar, a hero emerged who volunteered for the task.

“I am ArashA freedom loving warriorAn archer of reputationFire burns from the feathers of my ArrowAnd the wind obeys my ordersI am the son of toilAnd I carry the hopes of my peopleOn my shoulders…”

People watched Arash anxiously. Mothers prayed for him, the children called out his name on roof tops, the girls threw their necklaces in his path and the men silently admired their hero walk past them.

Arash then said his last goodbye to his people.“Farewell to you my last dawnfor this will be the last Arash will see of you”

Arash climbed up the Alborz and put all his strength and might into the arrow. His arrow went on and on for miles and miles and the riders who followed his arrow finally saw it land on a huge walnut tree, and that became the new frontier with Turan.

The poem then continued:

“Years passed by,Amongst the silent snow ridden valleys of Alborz,Climbers who are struggling to ascend the peaks,Call out for Arash,They seek his strength and they seek his guidance,And the rocks and cliffs reply with Arash’s voice,Arash guides them and heartens themGives them hope and shows them the way…”

When reading the poem stopped, the class fell unusually silent. We looked at each other, and I sensed that everyone wanted to ask the same question. We weren’t actually sure if Arash died, we hoped that he were still alive. I stood up and anxiously asked the teacher,“Miss! did Arash die?”The teacher looked at me and smiled, walked towards me and put her hand on my shoulder, “Arash died Potkin, but his spirit lives on, one day you could all be an Arash for your country in different ways.”

I probably didn’t understand the full extent of what the teacher said at the time, all I know is that I read the poem over and over again and how to the delight of everyone at home, I used to recite it from memory:

“Life is like the eternal flames of an ancient fire templeIf we light it up, the dancing of the flames will be seen in distances afarIf we don’t, then the flames will go outAnd that will be our sin…”

Of course Arash was part of our mythology, but in later years as we studied the history of Iran, we learned how Arash manifested himself into so many real life characters in our history whose sacrifices ensured the identity of our people lived on.

There is Babak, who resisted the Arab invasion from his mountain stronghold of Baz for 22 years. He was betrayed by another Iranian commander, Afshin, who had believed in the false promises of the Arab Khalif. So enraged was the Arab Khalif with Babak that he ordered the executioner to cut off Babak’s right arm first followed by his left leg and then his left arm followed by his right leg before slowly putting him to death. As soon as the executioner cut Babak’s arm off, Babak dabbed his other hand in his blood and wiped the blood on his face. The Khalif baffled by this act, halted the execution for a moment and asked Babak,“Cursed unbeliever, what was all that about?”

Babak replied, “I thought by losing all that blood, I may have looked pale in front of the people and give the impression that I was fearful. I wanted to make sure that no one thought Babak feared you.”

The account of Babak’s heroic death is not an exaggeration by biased Iranian historians, it is in fact written by the Arab historians at the time, who loathed Babak, and his resistance to their occupation.

During the constitutional revolution of hundred years ago, after the new Qajar king nullified his father’s approval of having a parliament and used his Russian Cossack allies to bomb the parliament building with cannons, all of Iran seemed resigned to the nullification of the constitutional decree. Only one district in one city in the whole of Iran led by Sattar resisted the new dictatorship. All other houses were forced to put up white flags. The Russian consulate invited Sattar to a meeting. He tried to buy off Sattar by promising him the lucrative control of the taxes on the Iran-Russia trade route, if Sattar also displayed the white flag on his house. This was Sattar’s reply before he stormed out of the room:“My wish is to see seven nations under the sun and lion flag of Iran, how dare you ask me to display an un-Iranian banner?”

Sattar, having left the meeting abruptly, mounted his horse and the brilliant marksman that he was, started shooting down all the white flags. As the flags fell and Sattar and his men rode over them with their horses, the people of Tabriz rejoiced and came out of their houses and once again put up the Iranian flags. The resistance which was restricted to one district in one city spread across the whole town. Tabriz became the sole defender of the constitutional revolution and the rest of Iran joined too and the despot Qajar king was finally overthrown.

Before the invasion of Iran by Saddam Hossein, some of Iran's finest, most patriotic and most capable members of its armed forces, planned an uprising against the mullahs from the Shahrokhi airbase. Their plans were betrayed by agents of Iran's Communist Party, who at the time following their mentors in the Soviet politbureau, were desperately trying to endear themselevs to the "anti-imperialist" mullahs. All those involved in planning the uprising were arrested. Some were paraded on state TV before their execution, but at the time the mullahs were too inexperienced to realise such programs should not be shown on live TV. Watching the physical appearance of the men on TV, it was obvious the harrowing experience they had suffered at the hands of the Islamic henchmen. Yet they showed no fear, they showed no remorse. One by the name of Lt. Captain Farokhzad Jahangiri even snapped at his cleric interrogator:"Mr. Akhoond - derogatory term for a mullah - we did not take part in this for money or position, we did it to save our country.." and the program suddenly went off air.More than two hundred who were involved in the uprising were executed. Iran lost some of its finest military personnel who would have been invaluable in defence of the country against the coming invasion by Saddam. For time and time before these very men who were executed by the mullahs, had firmly pushed back Saddam's invading troops in the past.Some years later, leaders of Iran's Communist Party also suffered a similar fate to that of Afshin at the hands of the Khalif.

During the war with Iraq, again Iran produced many more manifestations of Arash who defended the motherland even with their bare hands despite the overwhelming firepower of the enemy; but the war which was unnecessarily dragged on for too long, to line up the pockets of the likes of Rafsanjani and Co. also produced much dissent amongst the population.

Ayatollah Khomeini sensed the growing dissent amongst the masses. He feared that when the political prisoners are released they will organise the mass dissent into a revolt. Between the end of August until the end of September,1988, thousands of political prisoners were summarily executed.

Prisoners were brought before an Islamic panel of clerics and were asked two questions:“Do you believe in Allah?Are you prepared to publicly denounce your activities and your political organization?”

If they replied “NO” to any of the two questions, they were sent for execution there and then. Thousands were executed and dumped in unknown graves. Many had even finished the sentences passed by the very Islamic courts and many who were already freed were brought back and executed.

The massacre of Iran’s political prisoners did not even spare children, the old and even the pregnant women. Some whole families, brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers were put to death and wiped out forever. Iran lost many of its best sons and daughters. Yet the whole event went almost unnoticed around the world. No Left, Right, Liberal , Human Rights groups, feminists, intellectuals etc. around the world went on a protest march and no Western mass media fully reported the genocideThe mullahs were basking in the comfortable thoughts of “We got away with it again”. What they did not realize was that these brave men and women were the Arashes of our time, they stood tall and said NO to Islamic fascism and the new occupiers of our country.

Our motherland will produce more and more Arashes, and they will live in our hearts from generation to generation, so that once again we can light up our fires and the dancing of our flames will be seen in distances afar.

Saturday, August 20, 2005

I was reading Khatami's first public post-presidency speech in Mashad. It was quite eerie to say the least. Khatami said in his speech, the Supreme Leader himself will soon become a victim of this new reign of terror and Talibanism. Hang on, I said, what is he talking about? Is he referring to Mesbah-Yazdi just as I wrote in a previous posting?!Sure enough he was! Since I started my blog, there have only been a few visitors according to my stats and I am sure Khatami is not one of them!As I read the speech further, it was even more startling. "We have to stand up to this new current in Iran, even if it needs victims." and then in no uncertain terms it was obvious he was referring to the tentacles of the Hojjatieh group. "Those who regarded the revolution, during Imam Khomeini's time, as a deviation, are now wavering the tools of terror and oppression. The shallow thinking traditionalists with their stone age backwardness now have a powerful organisation behind them."

There is no doubt for an Iranian who follows the events closely in Iran, which organisation and to whom Khatami was referring to. He was referring to the Hojjatieh group and their spiritual leader, Ayatollah Mesbah-Yazdi.

So there you go, even the timid and cautious Khatami has said it now. Ahmadi-Nejad's selection was nothing to do with his "populist election" platform of sharing the wealth with the poor, no one was even aware of any of his campaign manifesto, it was in fact a coup by the Hojjatieh group, to whom the Supreme Leader owes his Supreme appointment.

Finally Kofi Annan, also demands the release of Akbar Ganji. Hundreds of Iranians wrote letters to the UN General Secretary soliciting his support for the release of Akbar Ganji. I also made a point about the lack of support from Kofi Annan, at the time, on my CNN interview:

NEW YORK — UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan yesterday wrote Iran’s new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, demanding the release of imprisoned dissident journalist Akbar Ganji.The letter marks the strongest action to date by the world body in pushing for Ganji to be freed. Such initiatives are always ticklish for the United Nations because Iran is a member-state.While Annan’s letter has not been made public because it has not yet been received by the Iranian authorities, it calls for “the immediate release on humanitarian grounds” of Ganji, according to a copy seen by Reuters.

Friday, August 19, 2005

This is the latest information we have available on Iranian dissident Akbar Ganji. His family and his lawyers have been unable to see Ganji for more than two weeks now. The following information has been released by Ganji' doctor in the hospital, Dr. Hessam Firoozi.

Ganji entered his 70th day of hunger strike. For the last 15 days he has been in the ICU section of the hospital. Tests show serious damage to his bone marrow and his HB count has dropped drastically to 6.5. As a result of protein reduction, he is now suffering from Hypoprpteinemia and his arms and legs have swollen.

The most worrying thing about his health however is his blood infection. He has contracted bacteremia, and is currently on anti-biotics. As a result of this infection his white cell blood count is less than 2000 which shows serious damage to the bone marrow.

Thursday, August 18, 2005

I don't know if anyone ever has carried out a research into the most repeatedly used charge against dissidents in dictatorships, but I am willing to wager it would be "Acting Against National Security".

When the clerics and their lackeys in Iran do their utmost to bring about charges against a dissident with no substantial justification (even according to their own criteria), it is always "Acting Against National Security" that they finally resort to. Under this pretentious charge, some of the most patriotic Iranians have been jailed and even faced execution; Judicial or extra-judicial.The picture you see here is that of Dr. Roya Toloii. An NGO and a Human Rights Activist. The picture shows her peacefully protesting against the murder of the Iranian Kurdish youth Shwaneh Ghaderi. She is holding a simple placard asking for the murderers to be identified and tried.

Yet her charge according to the Islamic authorities is "Acting Against National Security". How does she in any way threaten national security? And in any case when did the clerics ever become interested in our national security? For they have continuously threatened Iran's national security by throwing our country from crisis to crisis. Further still, when did the word "national" ever enter their vocabulary? For the clerics have repeatedly tried to destroy our national identity and national symbols.

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Today I had a rare opportunity to tidy up my office. It seems no matter what I do, piles of paper just seem to mount up. I suppose that is one drawback of having too many interests in life. There is so much to do and yet life seems to be too short. Any way, while going through some of my archives of Iranian dailies, I came across a copy of the Khordad daily from six years ago. One of the first in a series of dailies which were one by one banned by the judiciary. The big headlines grabbed my attention:"Mesbah-Yazdi: If anyone insults the Islamic sanctities, Islam has permitted for his blood to be spilled, no court needed either"Of course many of these so-called Western Iran-experts or as my friend Ann Leslie of the Daily Mail calls them, scallop-salad nibblers, don't even know who this mad Ayatollah is and how he has risen to power. More importantly that the mad Ayatollah is also the new selected president's mentor and that he may even become a rival to the Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei.

To learn about Mesbah-Yazdi, one needs to become familiar with the Hojjatieh group. This was a semi-clandestine religious group that was set up in the 1950's during the Shah's time. Soon the group's network spread and many of its members secretly gained influential positions. The foremost objective of the group's founder, Sheikh Halabi was to eradicate the Bahaii faith and its members. Hojjatieh thugs targetted the Bahaii places of worship, gatherings and cemetries. According to the Shiite version of Islam, the 12th descendant of prophet Mohammed , Mehdi or the Lord of All Ages, went into hiding when he was a child, some 1300 years ago. Shiites believe he will reappear again when the world has become full of oppression and tyranny. Bahaiis on the other hand believe that their prophet, Sheikh Bahaollah, was the reincarnation of Mehdi and he has already appeared and spread the Bahaii faith.Members of the Hojjatieh group think such a suggestion is blasphemy, for the coming of the Lord of All Ages shall be the end of the world as it is. Interestingly, and this is where the West really has to understand what is going on in Iran, the Hojjatieh group took no part in the 1979 revolution. For they actually believe in the spread of tyranny and oppression. They argue that if the Lord of All Ages is to appear when the world is full of oppression and tyranny, then we ought to help spread evil, tyranny and oppression in order to facilitate the coming of the 12th Imam, Mehdi. If you stand in the way of tyranny and oppression then you delay the coming of the Lord of All Ages, the Hojjatieh argue.

Please read the above carefully, then think about nuclear technology at the hands of these people and how they yearn for the coming armageddon.

Ayatollah Khomeini actually frowned the Hojjatieh and the group was nominally dissolved in 1983, yet they secretly continued to maintain and strengthen their network. Mesbah-Yazdi nicknamed the "alligator", amongst the Iranian population, is a chief ideologue of the Hojjatieh group who was actually made redundant during Khomeini's years but let me explain how he rose to power.

After Khomeini's death, all of the main Shiite Grand Ayatollahs (Sources of Emulation for the Shiite faithful) rejected Khameni's theologian credentials as a Grand Ayatollah, essential for him to become the new Supreme Leader, except for two. One of them was Mesbah-Yazdi and the other, the now chief of judiciary, the Iraqi born, Ayatollah Shahroodi. Thus Mesbah came back again from obscurity and in return for his services to establish the new Supreme Leader, he asked for funds and facilities to run the Imam-Khomeini institute. On the surface, the role of this institute is to spread the teachings of Khomeini. In reality however, Messbah-Yazdi used the funds and the means at his disposal to once again strengthen the network of the Hojjatieh group. Until now Mesbah-Yazdi and Khamanei have served each other well, with the announcement of the new cabinet and the re-emergence of the Hojjatieh group, the "alligator" may now even be tempted to push aside the Supreme Leader.

One thing is for certain though, with all the oil money, and now all the key power positions in their hand, and most importantly the nuclear technology, things have never looked so good for the Hojjatieh group to plan the coming of the Lord of All Ages, the Imam Zaman, the Mehdi.

If you think I am scaremongering, then don't take my words for it, if you want to believe the CNN, and the BBC and the John Simpsons and all the rest of the PC Western mass media that the last presidential elections in Iran was fair and free, you are entitled to your opinion but just remember how incensed Ayatollah Tavassoli, the former chief of staff of Ayatollah Khomeini, was at the "fraudulent and despicable" way the faction crowned their own man, and how he voiced alarm that the leaders of the Hojjatieh group were now practically in control of the executive branch and the Revolutionary Guards, and the new selected president being under their domination.

I am still working on gathering more information on the members of the new cabinet proposed by the newly selected president, Ahmadi-Nejad. However some of the names I was already familiar with. One was judge Mohseni Ezheii. I had already translated the report of an incident in which judge Mohseni Ezheii had bitten a representative of the press and thrown a sugar bowl at in February last year.At the time Mohseni Ezheii was a judge and the head of the Special Clerical Court, designated to prosecute the dissident clerics in Islamic Republic. He is also believed to be one of the masterminds of the extra-judicial killings of Iranian dissidents in the late 90s. In the new cabinet he will be in charge of the Intelligence Ministry. God help us!

Another name I recognised and remembered was Dr. Lankarani, the proposed Health Secretary. This guy is obsessed with the segregation of men and women in hospitals.Never mind that there are currenly more than 200 reported dead from cholera in Iran and it could soon become an epidemic, the new Health Secretary has other priorities.If he gets his way, I am sure one of his first ingenius proposals will be to make sure no female is visited by a male doctor and vice versa, even if it leads to the patient's death!

I am sure however John Simpson of the BBC and some elements in the UK FO will eventually find some moderates and cling their hopes on them!

Sunday, August 14, 2005

Let me warn you that what you read below is not an attempt by me to be humourous in any way. It is exactly as the events have taken place.

Right on the same day as what was supposed to be the "elections" in the Islamic Republic of Iran and two weeks before the London bombings, four dissident Iranians were arrested. The leader of the group known as Forood Fooladvand was arrested in his home at 3.30 am. According to one posting on the web, this is how he was arrested:"They broke his rib, injured his forehead, kicked him in the face, and cut both of his hands. There were at least 30 armed officers and they didn't even announce that they were the police. He thought they were the regime's agents coming to finish him off! They held him for 48 hours for questioning and searched his house. They took his computers, cells phones, anything interesting."The news of the arrests was also covered in the Times and the Guardian. From the Guardian:http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,12858,1509345,00.html" The men were said to be Iranians or part of a group opposed to Tehran.They were not linked to any al-Qaida network nor planning terrorist attacks in the UK, anti-terrorist officials said.Officers from the Metropolitan police's S013 anti-terrorist branch seized two of the men in a car in Barnet, in the early hours of yesterday.They were supported by armed officers in case the men had guns.The police did not recover any firearms, although the road was closed for some time while forensic examinations were carried out.The operation was led by the police, with the support of MI5.Two other men were arrested at residential addresses, and officers were searching three properties, two in Barnet and one in Finchley.A source said they did not expect to discover any bomb-making equipment, but hoped to find computers and documents revealing the men's plans. "

Now I am no fan of this dissident group, known as Anjoman Padeshahi Iran. I have serious concerns about the super egoistic personality of their leader, and I just believe their approach is not practical to regime change in Iran, but come on they are no threat to the British public in any shape or form.

I decided to go to Paddington Green police station and enquire about the arrests. To my surprise no one at the station had heard anything about it and the receptionist didn't know where Iran was. So like a good law abiding citizen living in a democracy, I decided to write a letter to my MP.

After some correspondence, my MP finally received a letter from the Metropolitan Police Service, signed by DCI Chris Byrne, with the impressive title of International Operations Special Branch.

Here is what the letter said:"I am unable to go into detail but can reassure you that this operation was intelligence led response to an identified threat to national security. The decision to initiate executive action was taken by the National Co-ordinator for Counter Terrorism - DAC Clarke.

It should be noted that one of those detained has been charged with an offence under the Firearms Act when found in possession of a prohibited weapon and a second male was charged with possession of an offensive weapon (ball bearing pistol)

I hope the above information assists."

The above is exactly as in the letter I received.

So after reading the letter, two questions came to my mind. Why did the Guardian article say no firearms were found? Secondly what the hell is a "ball bearing" pistol? I genuinely didn't know.

I decided to search the internet for what a "ball bearing" pistol was. I was convinced that this must be some nasty weapon capable of killing tens of innocent Londoners, after all this was an intelligence led operation. After doing a quick Google search however I nearly fell off my chair in amazement. The fucking thing was an air gun prohibited for sale to under 17s!See:http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,6903,1495094,00.html

I have always been so supportive of the British police. I think they do an amazing job fighting the criminals. The ordinary men and women bobbies often risk their lives for the public without even carrying firearms. There have been a number of cases in the past where I have actively come out in support of the individual police officers, but this is just beyond belief.

How the fuck is a ball bearing pistol a threat to national security?? How the hell do they justify a thirty man raid on a fifty something year old man's house in such a brutal manner two weeks before the London bombings just for recovering a fucking air gun?

The Iranians have always had a conspiracy theory mentality. The timing of this "intelligence" led operation - on the day of the so-called elections in Iran - will further that mentality a long way and has really strengthened the conception of Iranians about the British support for the mullahs.

Going back to how the papers reported the event. They said the dissident group may have been planning some terrorist attacks in Iran. Even if that were true, which is not the case, what the hell does it have to do with MI5? Why should the MI5 worry about a security threat to the Islamic regime in Iran? shouldn't the MI5 worry about protecting the innocent British citizens whose taxes pay their budgets?The African National Congress was involved in an armed struggle against the apartheid in South Africa, did the MI5 raid the houses of the ANC representatives in London?Suppose a dissident North Korean expat group plan an armed insurgency against the repressive state of North Korea, should the British police raid them and break their ribs??

This is the final gist of it that the Western public should be made aware of. The mainstream media don't pose these questions thats why I decided to have a weblog. We have a repressive Islamic state with global ambitions and a clear intention to develop nuclear weapons and a small dissident group with a "ball bearing" pistol. So dear tax payers who do you think the Intelligence Services should target as top priority? Answers on a postcard please.

I can not help but feel despair after reading Fareed Zakaria's advice to Untied States in Newsweek on what to do about the Islamic Republic on the nuclear issue.

I feel despair because it makes me wonder, how did these experts get their jobs? Was it just their family ties or did they really do well at school? Do they have any experience in manipulative politics to give such advice?Looking at Fareed Zakaria's photo, I get the impression of a slippery slick city lawyer. The sort that know how to waffle on about something and impress the plebs in a jury.

Reading his article however, I get the impression that this guy needs to go back to school and do a an elementary course in statistics.

Here is an excerpt from his article which reminds me of some of the sixth form debating society stuff I used to take part in:

"Many Iranians believe that they should and will be a nuclear power. I was speaking to an Iranian exile who lives in London who has spent time, money and effort plotting against the regime. For the first time ever, I found he was siding with the mullahs."

Do you see what I mean? Fareed Zakaria has talked to one obscure nameless Iranian exile in London and has extrapolated thatmanyIranians want to have nuclear power! Absurdity beyond belief.

He then rants on about "sticks are not going to work" and if the objective of the US is to stop the Mullahs from having nuclear weapons then why not explore a different path?

Anyone reading this would think that in the last 25 years the US and the EU have used sticks against the mullahs and now a different path should be explored as another experimental method! However for those who may not have followed the Iranian affairs closely in the last 25 years, the truth is that the US and particularly the EU have been failing miserably with a softly approach which the EU like to call a critical dialogue. Although it is neither critical nor a dialogue. In fact the one method which has not been tried against the Mullahs is sticks.

Don't get me wrong I am not talking about air strikes which could result in the death of the civilian population either. I do believe however that certain Islamic Republic figures should be arrested if they travel to US or Europe. Some even already have warrants issued against them by European courts. The same courts that were put under unprecedented pressure by their governments to adopt a softly approach against Islamic Republic's campaign of terror against its dissidents in Europe.

US and EU could seize huge assets that the Islamic Republic statesmen are depositing in Western banks. US and EU could seize the extensive properties that the Mullahs are buying with the Iranian people's money in England, Canada, Switzerland ...

Or just lets advice the US firms like Halliburton not to take on contracts in Iran or even easier options; ban the Western technology firms from selling internet filtering software to repressive states like Islamic Republic of Iran.

If I was an adviser to US however, I would advise them to back the secular pro-democracy movement in Iran. For this is the biggest fear of the religious dictatorship in Iran; the international support for the uprising at home. They would tremble under their turbans if for once they see magazines like Newsweek giving coverage to Iranian dissidents like Akbar Ganji or report the massacre of people in Iranian Kurdistan by Islamic Republic helicopter gunships.Then the international public opinion would also understand that a state which uses helicopter gunships to massacre its own people can not be trusted with nuclear technology either.

Saturday, August 13, 2005

As I am writing this, the Iranian dissident, Akbar Ganji,has now been on hunger strike for 65 days. No one includinghis immediate family have been allowed to see him for morethan two weeks. For all we know he may already be dead.Ganji has had the support of many well known internationalfigures. These include US President George Bush, formerSoviet dissident Natan Sharansky, former Czech Republicpresident Vaclav Havel, six past Nobel peace laureates,thousands of academics both Iranian and non-Iranian,including Noam Chomsky.The support is impressive to say the least and acrossthe spectrum. Even the longtime friend of Islamic clericsin Iran and probably their "illegal oil trade"partner, UN General Secretary, Kofi Anan, finally had toadmit that he was aware of Akbar Ganji's case. Yet thereis one major exception to all this support.The mainstream media, including the BBC, have remainedsilent. Here I have been racking my brain and asking thequestion, why?

First I considered the usual reasons normally given insuch circumstances. Lack of film footage, photos, peopleto talk to, all the usual bollocks.But surely not in Ganji's case. Here we have availablephotos and film footage.Ganji's loyal wife has braved all adversity and volunteeredto talk to foreign media.Indeed Channel4 in UK made an informative 15 minute reporton Ganji.So the first theory, I had to rule out.

Then I thought may be the editors don't think the public areinterested in Iran.They look at news from Iran as a commodity that they can notsell to their public.Perhaps we Iranian expats should bear more pressure on theseeditors that hey, we are part of your audience too. We in theUK also pay TV licence fees which pay your wages. We want tohear the news of our old country, just like when you reportedit in 1979. Perhaps we Iranian expats should motivate the publicin the West to bear pressure on these mainstream media editorsthat they have it wrong. The public in the West are not justinterested in hearing about the mistreatments of Islamic extremistsin Guantanamo, they are in fact also interested in hearing thesecular struggle for justice and democracy against a religiousdictatorship too.After all surely the Western public now realise that Islamicfundamentalism is not just a "cultural" problem specific to us Iranians.Surely after the London bombings the public in the West realize that Islamic fundamentalism is a global threat.

As I was pondering these thoughts, I got an email from a journalistfriend of mine in Iran. I had posed the same question to him and thiswas his reply."The news editors think the nuclear issue is the one which has the high profile. They are shit scared of their correspondents getting kicked out of Iran if they show their reports on human rights abuses. Instead the editors prefer not to risk the deportation of their correspondents so they can remain in Iran and cover the bigger issue."

I have faith in my friend's judgement after all he knows these correspondents. The problem I have with this line of thought is howeverthat the two issues are actually interconnected.

A government which ignores the international cry for freedom of a journalist on hunger strike, who is only imprisoned for expressing his opinion, can not be trusted with international treaties.

A government that jails lawyers for defending their dissident clientshas no understanding of a fair legal process.

A government that uses helicopter gunships to kill its own people cannot be trusted as having peaceful intentions with nuclear technology.

A government that openly backs and sponsors international terrorism is not an ideal candidate to obtain nuclear technology. To miss all this when reporting the nuclear issues is bad reporting to say the least.

Molla Hassani, the Friday sermon leader of Oroumieh is known to most Iranians because of his fiery sermons and the ridiculous statements he makes during the sermons. In fact his sermons are followed eagerly by many as a source of entertainment. A typical topic of the conversation on a Saturday is "did you hear what Hassani said in his sermon yesterday?" Of course Hassani has no idea about the entertainment values of his sermons. In fact he is not a light hearted man at all. He is a brutal maniac, dedicated to keep the Islamic Republic at any cost, even if it means killing his own son. In his latest book of his memoirs, Hassani describes in detail how he helped the capture of his son and his execution.

Below is a translation of the relevant part of his book "...My eldest son, Rashid, fought against the Shah. He was at the Tehran University then and was arrested on a couple of occasions too. Before the revolution when he returned to Oroumieh, he would help in setting up the Friday sermons, and help the poor and the peasants in their farm work. After the revolution however he joined the Fedayeen Khalq Marxist organisation. I tried to talk him out of it several times but to no avail.

At the time I was an MP in Tehran , I heard Rashid had come to Tehran too. I found out where he was staying. I asked Ayatollah Mahdavi Kani to send a few armed units to where Rashid was staying. I didn't say my own son was involved. I said if he gives himself up, arrest him otherwise shoot to kill. Rashid was arrested and sent to Tabriz . There he was handed over to Ayatollah Mossavi Tabrizi, who appointed his son-in-law to try Rashid.

Rashid was quickly sentenced to execution. I never even got his body. I was not even upset. Even now if any of my other sons become enemies of the state I would do the same. Of course Rashid hadn't killed anyone and his crime was his thoughts. He should have been sentenced to life. But I am not bitter; no one gets everything they deserve in this world. That is why Allah has created Heaven and Hell and the judgement day. I really wanted to read Rashid's file and see exactly what he had done, but no one can find the file. I heard his judge is now ill and poor, I would like to find him and help him...."

Hassani is not the only Ayatollah who took part in the murder of their own children. Many others proudly describe how for the sake of the establishment they have sacrificed even their own flesh and blood. Some like Ayatollah Gilani who executed two of his sons do feel remorse in their old age, some like Hassani not as yet.

One day the West will realise what sort of animals came to power in Iran and how worthless they regarded human life, let’s hope it wouldn't be too late by then.

When I wrote this below, it was a couple of weeks before the London bombings. It gave me no satisfaction that the points I made herebecame reality.

Although the vote rigging allegations in the first round of the elections in Iran are the most blatant and even Islamic Republic insiders with impeccable establishment credentials are protesting about it, the world media is silent. The foreign correspondents are just repeating the results as announced by the Guardian Council.

Giving the impression to the world that this was a fair and free election and the population participated in this farce overwhelmingly.Two results were announced after the elections. The interior ministry who should have announced the election results, announced Ahmadi-Nejad’s votes as 3,449,697.

Yet the Guardian Council which should have no part in announcing the results, declared Ahmadi-Nejad as the second candidate with almost one million votes extra.

Where did the extra one million votes suddenly come from?

In a controversial letter to the Supreme Leader, published on various sites and dailies in Iran but later withdrawn, Karroubi resigned from all his government posts and accused the Supreme Leader’s son for manipulating the election results. Suddenly Karroubi, the long term veteran of the Islamic Republic, the man who could be relied on to be the peace maker between the different factions in the Islamic Republic, felt so outraged by the audacity of the vote rigging that he joined the opposition to the Islamic Republic!

The foreign media however, have not reported any of this. They have just simply regurgitated the Guardian Council figures. BBC’s John Simpson, a self proclaimed expert on Iran , in his typical school boy “analysis”, paraphrased the usual, “Rafsanjani the moderate facing the hardliner in the second round ….”

What will be the consequences of such reporting?

The Muslim youth in Europe hear about alleged election fraud in America , but a "successful", flawless election in the Islamic Republic. The Muslim youth in Europe will hear the allegations of mistreatment of the prisoners in Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib prisons, but they never hear the mistreatment of political prisoners and ordinary public in the Islamic Iran. I can go on with such comparison.

In short however, the idea of the Islamic government being some sort of Utopia and the Western democracy a flawed and degenerate system will be further engrained into the minds of the Musilm youth in Europe .

The Muslim youth will be more confident and more resolute than before.

These spineless politicians and media will help the West to lose the ideological battle ground. Once that is lost, all else will crumble too. For no force will ever be powerful enough to take on the growing fundamentalism amongst the determined and dedicated Muslim youth who are prepared to die for what the Western media led them to believe to be a Utopia.

So much for the West’s war on terrorism.

I have seen two worthwhile articles in the US press. An excellent expert article in the Wall Street Journal:

and one in New York Times:

The PC European press however seems determined to champion the Islamic Republic.

About Me

Follow Me on Twitter @potkazar
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Last time I was in Iran, was during the Islamic "cultural revolution". I hated what was taking place in front of my eyes.
Illiterate gangs of thugs attacking students and academics and telling them how a university must be run! Book stalls being attacked, with books torn up and burned.
I knew then that I had to do something to get rid of this scourge of clerics who had seized power in Iran.
My main objective in life is to help establish a secular democracy in Iran.
I believe the best way forward for Iran to be based on four pillars of Democracy, Secularism, Nationalism and Meritocracy.
Most countries that have adopted these principles have been prosperous, why shouldn't our people be one of them?